Russian River Damnation

[887-20071201] 750mL (Xmas Party 2007, beerhugger & guests). Smokey citrus pip bitter hops aroma has a hint of sweetness. Slightly hazy, pale yellow orange body with a long-lasting creamy white head and some lacing. Citrusy bitter flavour. Medium body. Super bitter, fair.

Bottle from Coit Liquors in San Francisco. A glowing golden pout with a whiter-than-white rocky head. Banana and cloves in the aroma...am I describing a hefeweizen here? Sweet bubblegum flavour with honey and cinnamon. Good level of carbonation and a great body round off a solid brew.

aroma was somewhat estery. Definite notes of pear and honey. poured a gold that is a couple shades darker than american lager, with a big initial head, but it quickly died into a film. flavor was quite nice, estery with some pear, bit of honey, and bit of spice in the backround. The beer is pretty dry as it hits the back of the mouth, and leaves you with a slight leather taste, The mouthfeel is perfect, caressing the tongue with lots and lots of tiny bubbles. good stuff

11/7/07 From the bottle, batch 25. Aroma is almost soapy, rich, with peppery and clovey phenols, fruit from esters and also fruity sweet malt. Appearance is hazy straw colored with a good white head. Flavor is Bubble gum forward and quite candilike throughout. There are notes of lemon, orange and peppery phenols. Mouthfeel is medium/low bodied with a moderate carb bite and light creaminess. Overall, a very cool and well balanced brew, liked to try this with some longer-term aging.

750, corked and caged. This is one of the great highlights of my California road trip from the summer of 07, but it’s bittersweet. It was a cheap and mandatory grab at City Beer in SF, for sure. We got to RR in Santa Rosa later that afternoon, and the bartender patiently answered my question about Batch 23: "Naw, that was real popular. It sold really fast." For a second, I was sincerely convinced that, despite the tattoos, dude was gonna say "Gosh." Oh, well. Better luck next batch.
Pours crystal clear light amber with a hard-to-manage fluffy platinum blonde head. Lots of peaked egg white for lacing, and lots of patience goes into awaiting that first sip. Smells awesome while you wait, though--huge bouquet of spice, lemon zest, and some hay and grass. Just a pleasant little burrow of Belgian glee.
Medium-bodied, somewhat fizzy attack. Definitely a pleasant fizz, with very tight carb. The spice, lemon, hay, and grass come roaring back around the mountain when they come for the mid-palate, and a little bit of honey joins them. Almost tangy. Clean herbal finish.
Gosh, this is a lovely little beer.

Bottle, at various locations during the Zythos weekend, March 2006. Gold, thin off white head and moderate condition. Pleasantly spicy honeyed tripel maltiness in the nose, yeasty sweet predominantly in the mouth with a low bitterness and some traces of the honey from the aroma, lingering spicy dry finish with a touch of yeasty bitterness.

I did a side by side tasting with this and Damnation. They both had the same amber straw colored body with a bit of white head. The aroma on the Damnation has a bit more hop profile than the Redemption. There is also a good malt profile and a slight yeast funk. It has a good malty slightly sweet taste with good hop bitterness and some flavor as well. Perhaps slighly sweeter than the Redemption. Both are good beers though and I can’t choose a favorite.

Bottle. Batch # 25. Pours a hazy, golden orange. Huge, creamy white head that lasted. Aroma is citrus and a touch of hops. Flavor is sweet, almost champagne like, orange / citrus notes, malt. Very soft and mellow on the palate, again, very champagne like.